After months of internal crisis, the Union of Writers and Writers of Quebec (UNEQ) has a new president on Wednesday. According to our information, it is the author Pierre-Yves Villeneuve who has been chosen to succeed Suzanne Aubry. He will be supported by a board of directors formed in the majority by other writers who were in favor of the imposition of union dues.
Pierre-Yves Villeneuve presented himself to the board of directors of the UNEQ within a group of five authors, “Le Collectif”, which speaks of “seeking alternative sources of financing” to give additional means to the union. The four other members of the “Collective” -Jean-Philippe Bergeron, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, Anne-Marie Sicotte and Erika Soucy- were also elected to the board of directors by the members, who were a little less than 50% to participate. in the ballot.
The candidates who had been the most critical of the outgoing UNEQ administration received far fewer votes. Two of them, Sophie-Luce Morin and Josée Marcotte, nevertheless received enough votes to be able to join the board of directors.
The seven members of the CA then had to choose among them who will serve as president. Unsurprisingly, it was a member of the “Collective”, with a large majority on the board of directors, who was chosen.
Pierre-Yves Villeneuve was already on the former board of directors of UNEQ, who resigned en bloc on March 31. He is the author of the hit children’s series Gamer.
Amazing result
Mr. Villeneuve was among those who were in favor of imposing a union dues of 2.5% on the income of authors who are members of the UNEQ, and 5% on those of authors who are not members.
His election and that of his allies on the board of directors may seem contradictory with the result of the extraordinary general meeting of March 30. At the end of a chaotic meeting that lasted several hours, nearly 56% of the members present rejected the UNEQ’s plan to collect union dues from all Quebec authors.
The next day, President Suzanne Aubry, General Manager Laurent Dubois and all the directors announced their departure. This idea of dues has divided the literary community since December 2022, when UNEQ announced that its members had come out in favor of union dues.
However, we will learn a few days later that only 46 people had participated in the general assembly. An outcry ensued over the legitimacy of this decision. The UNEQ will finally make a U-turn by agreeing to submit its position on union dues to a vote again.
Members still divided
At Wednesday’s general meeting, when the results of the election for the board of directors were announced, tensions were still high between the authors who were in favor of the dues and those who opposed them, under this form at least.
Remember that the UNEQ has the power to raise union dues since the adoption of the new law on the status of the artist last year. This makes UNEQ the only union in good and due form authorized to negotiate minimum conditions for all authors in Quebec.
Negotiations with the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL) and Sogides (Quebecor) had already been undertaken by the writers’ union in December. However, these have been interrupted since the members of the UNEQ rejected the union dues in the proposed form.